1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of telephony and more particularly to a method and system for automatically reporting violations of national or state “do-not-call” lists.
2. Description of Related Art
A national “do-not-call” registry was implemented by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the summer of 2003. The registry is a list of millions of phone numbers, representing both individuals and businesses owners, who have signed up to indicate that they do not want to receive unsolicited telephone calls by telemarketers. Telemarketers must periodically check their call lists against the numbers on the national do-not-call registry and remove or “scrub” their calling lists of telephone numbers that are on the registry. Telemarketers that continue to call numbers that are on the registry are subject to fines of up to $11,000 per violation. Some organizations are specifically exempted from complying with the do-not-call registry, including charities, non-profit organizations, organizations engaged in political solicitations, and sellers and telemarketers that either have a preexisting business relationship with the callee or prior express written authorization to call. In February, 2004, the FTC announced that over 55 million consumers had registered for the list. In addition to the Federal “do-not-call” list, many States have their own lists for their state residents.
The FTC provides a mechanism for reporting violations of the national do-not-call registry. Complaints can be filed with the FTC either electronically by email, by telephone, or by regular mail. Similar mechanisms for reporting violations of State do not call lists also exist. To file a complaint with the FTC, the phone number of the callee/registrant must have been on the do-not-call list for at least three months. The FTC also requires that the complainant provide the date the call was received and either the name of the organization or the telephone number that called the complainant. The FTC also requires the area code and phone number of the number that was called. The FTC has reported consumers had submitted some 150,000 complaints by the end of 2003. Fewer than 45 companies had been hit with more than 100 complaints, suggesting widespread compliance with the list, according to the FTC.
Despite the availability of these provisions, reporting a violation of the do-not-call list is at best inconvenient and adds further inconvenience to the annoyance of having received the call in the first place. In some instances, the task of reporting a violation can be impossible to perform since the callee may not know the name or phone number of the organization that placed the call. For example, telemarketers can hide their telephone number such that it does not show up on a caller ID screen on the callee's phone, or the caller may not correctly or completely identify themselves when they make their call and instead hang up when the callee asks for the name of the caller. Without the name or number of the telemarketer, the callee cannot submit a proper complaint to the FTC.
The present invention provides a much more convenient, and indeed automatic, method for filing a complaint of a do-not-call list violation. The only involvement required by the user is to enter a predetermined touch tone pattern on their telephone key pad (e.g. by pressing some predefined sequence of numbers on the phone, such as 999), and then hanging up. Network node(s) on the telephone network interpret the touch tone pattern as an indication of a violation of the do-not-call list and do the rest, including transmitting the complaint to the relevant agency. The network node will also know the phone number of the caller, the callee number and the time of the call. As such, the invention takes essentially all of the inconvenience out of the task of reporting violations. As more violations are reported, and enforcement of the registry increases, one would expect that the frequency of such violations would decrease.
Indeed, it has been recently reported on MSNBC news (Apr. 12, 2004) that telemarketers are taking a variety of steps to evade the do-not-call list, including masquerading as non-profit or survey organizations and using fine print on sweepstakes entry forms to give express authorization for marketers to call. See “Even the law can't stop all sales calls, Some marketers finding ways around Do Not Call list” Bob Sullivan, MSNBC Business news, Apr. 12, 2004, reported at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4702892/. Both State and Federal agencies are urging consumers to file complaints even if the motivation for a call is unclear—if, for example, the calling firm convincingly claims it's a non-profit agency. State and Federal agencies cannot initiate an investigation unless consumers complain first. “If they sign something which results in a telemarketing call, and if the consumer doesn't call us and let us know this has occurred, we'll never know,” says Jon Sorenson, spokesman for the New York State Consumer Protection Board. “We tell people even if confronted with gimmicks, still let us know about them.” The present invention makes it easy for consumers to report these gimmicks.